For Love
by liferefined
Summary: What happens from Neytiri's point of view after Eywa intervenes during the final battle and just before the fight with Quaritch. No one has ever been Palulukan Makto before...


**Jake was Toruk Matko, and there's no denying the amazingness of that achievement. Neytiri did something just as amazing, if not moreso - she became Palulukan Makto, which to the best of my knowledge has never been done before. What was it like for her, in those moments after Eywa came through for the Na'vi? What was it like to form tsaheylu with one of Pandora's greatest predators? Here's my take on what I think happened. Hope you like it!**

"Seze's dead. They are very close. There are many." Neytiri's breast rose and fell as she panted frantically, adrenaline coursing through her veins.

"Do not attack! Do you read me, Neytiri? Do not attack, fall back now. Get out of there, that's an order!" Her mate's voice sounded far away, indeed. The wisdom and concern in his words was clear, but Neytiri felt it wash away in a flood of rage. She would not turn her back from this, not even for him. "Neytiri!" he cried desperately. Even separated by such a distance as they were, Jake could feel the rage wafting off of his mate. Please, you must live, he pleaded.

Wait, what was that sound? Neytiri's ears rotated as she took note of something happening behind her. Even the clumsy, evil Tawtute had heard it. Something was coming, something big.

"Jake! Eywa has heard you! Eywa has heard you!" Neytiri cried as she raised her bow over her head. Terror and despair were replaced by hope and exaltation as the very earth beneath her feet shook like the topmost branches of Kelutral in a wind storm. On either side of her a herd of massive angtsìk streamed by, bellowing and snorting in rage, the dust from their passage filling the air. It was one after another of the gigantic creatures, more than she had ever seen in one place before. Gunfire in the distance was quickly silenced as the wall of living armor quite literally walked all over the opposition. Neytiri heard metallic crunches and pops that she imagined were the sounds of the great suits of armor being trampled upon.

A dark shape flashed by her left side, and she spun reflexively to see what it was. Another dark blob zipped by her right, then two more on her left, almost too fast for her eyes to track. Howls and yips sounded out all around her as pack after pack of nantang followed in the wake of the angtsìk, flowing over the ground like dark water. Many of the Tawtute, those who had bravely (or foolishly) fought in their own skins had been able to avoid the stampede, but not the nantang. Each of the wolf-like creatures locked onto a hapless man or woman and fell upon them, clawing and biting savagely.

Neytiri watched it all, strangely satisfied as she fired another arrow, pinning some hapless solider to a tree. Some small part of her felt she should mourn for even these, her fallen enemies. She had not known any of these people well enough to cast a judgment upon them. Then the scenes flashed though her mind of her home going up in flames, of her clansmen and –women crushed and burned, of her father with a jagged junk of wood impaled through his body. Any thoughts of mercy fled her person at that moment. For an instant she almost felt she should join the nantang and rip a helpless Tawtute limb from limb herself with her own bare hands. Neytiri knew in her heart of hearts that revenge was never as sweet as it advertised itself. But damn if it didn't hit the spot in the heat of the moment. Neytiri's ears lowered in rage and she snarled, baring her fangs.

All of a sudden she felt the skin on the back of her neck prickle. Instincts that she had honed as a child growing up in the forest now screamed at her, run, _run!_ She felt a chill race up her spine as she became aware of a dark presence to her right. She knew the feeling – it was the sense of being hunted.

She turned slowly to face the darkness while simultaneously readying her bow. There may yet be a chance to escape if she could move quickly enough.

Neytiri locked eyes with the black palulukan, the Dry Mouth Bringer of Fear, and she felt all the strength and resolve leave her body. Her one hope had been foolish – there would be no escape from this. As her knees trembled, she silently wondered to herself what strange sense of irony Eywa must possess to have kept her safe in the battle thus far, only to be consumed by a palulukan.

The great beast regarded her with unfathomable yellow eyes, eyes that danced with something akin to mirth, only infinitely more malicious. The fleshy flaps of its lips curled upwards, thick ropes of saliva connecting them back to the massive teeth that had just been revealed. It snarled at her from deep back in its throat. Neytiri memorized every detail of the creature, taking in its satin smooth skin, its rippling musculature, the steady and unworried pace of its breathing. This is the last thing I will ever see. _You are magnificent, _Neytiri breathed as she readied herself. The sounds of the battle faded away until it seemed there was nothing left in the world save for Neytiri and the great palulukan.

Then, strangely, the palulukan crouched low before her, bowing down on its four forelegs. It sheathed its teeth beneath the flaps of skin, and the massive sensory frill behind its head fluttered slightly with what seemed like anticipation.

Neytiri cocked her head, still otherwise frozen. Why was she not yet dead? Why had it not pounced on her? Indeed, she had never been so close to one of these monsters before. No one ever really got this close and returned to tell of it. _Except, of course, for her Jake._ To answer her silent question, one of the palulukan's tswin, the neural antennae, rose up and extended towards her from where the beast carried it flush with its back.

Her eyes widened as the realized the implications of this, and she flushed with embarrassment at her own lack of faith in Eywa, especially after all that she had witnessed. Even the Dry Mouthed Bringer of Fear had heard Eywa's call! Neytiri took a hesitant step forward towards the palulukan, who continued to bow before her, quietly watching her. With more confidence she took another step, then another as she reached behind her for her queue. In a second she was directly beside the beast, and Neytiri ran a hand reverently over its armored hide. Neytiri leaped nimbly up onto its back as she took the palulukan's offered tswin in her left hand, bringing it into contact with her own queue, all the while preparing herself in her mind for the bond of tsaheylu.

* * *

Neytiri jolted as if she had plugged into a live electrical wire, and a startled gasp left her lips. This was like nothing, _nothing _she had ever experienced before. It was nothing like being bonded with a pa'li, with Seze, or even with her Jake. There was always give and take in a bond, and Neytiri had always exercised restraint so that she would not overwhelm the animal she was linked to. Pa'li were not the brightest beasts, but they were loyal and kind. Ikran were fiendishly clever, and Neytiri and Seze had always treated one another essentially as intellectual equals.

Jake…oh, her Jake. To be bonded with him was like being washed in a tidal wave of love and affection. To put it in cold, scientific terms, Jake really was Neytiri's equal, both in terms of mental ability and physiology. These similarities enabled both of them to almost instantly intuit what the other was feeling, desiring, even thinking. Among mates, there truly could be no secrets. It was the greatest intimacy imagineable. Neytiri and Jake met in the exact middle, but could easily proceed as deep as they both desired into the other. The exploration of one another's minds was as delightful as the exploration of their physical bodies.

This was something else entirely, being linked in tsaheylu with palulukan. The great creature was a force wholely bigger then Neytiri could possibly have imagined. Neytiri quickly erected a startled firewall within her own mind as she felt the very essence of the palulukan invade her brain. In a way she felt violated as the creature almost forced its consciousness upon her, and she felt the strange need to justify her own act of mental self preservation to the beast. She shuddered as the creature rifled through her memories, feeling its strangely childlike curiosity as it examined her. It felt her own battle bloodlust and rumbled in agreement. It felt her rage and sorrow at the death of her father and at the attack on her own home. It felt her unbridled love and adoration for Jake and for the passion that they shared. It felt it all, and it approved of it all.

**You are like me,** the thought bloomed in her mind like a geat thunderhead, and with another gasp Neytiri felt herself being pulled down through the bond as surely as if she had jumped into a raging river. Now it was she who felt what it was like to be palulukan. Unadulterated, unrefined _aggression_ consumed her and washed over her, and for a moment Neytiri felt distinctly evil. The palulukan shared with her its memories of the hunt, the unashamed joy of teeth and claw tearing into flesh. Oh Eywa, but blood had never tasted so good before. So _sweet._ With a start Neytiri realized that palulukan mated for life, too. She felt the palulukan's fierce passion for its mate, for _his _mate, and she understood it completely as one who was mated for life herself.

The awareness of his great muscles, of his strength and raw power, flowed over Neytiri. She felt herself getting drunk on it and could not stop herself. Her eyes closed in bliss as she contemplated the palulukan's strong legs and powerful heartbeat, unstoppable just as the sunrise and sunset were unstoppable. The palulukan flexed its fore claws into the dirt, and Neytiri had the distinct urge to experience what it would be like to drive those appendages deep into the flesh of another, to drink of their blood and to consume their organs.

This is power, Neytiri thought. _This is living! _

The creature rumbled again underneath her – Neytiri could feel the beast's hide trembling beneath her Na'vi legs. It was huffing with…laughter? The palulukan found all of this to be…humorous? **Be careful, little one. Though I have not tasted your flesh, I may yet consume you if you are not careful.**

Neytiri yanked herself back into her own mind, her golden eyes flying open with a start. _Eywa, what have I done? What did I do? Who am I? I am __Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite, future Tsahìk of the Omaticaya, lifemate of Jakesully, sixth Toruk Makto._ Neytiri repeated this mantra over and over again to herself, desperately trying to resolidify her own identity.

**Neytiri? **She heard her own name echo through the link. **You are called Neytiri, **he stated. It was a fact. It was almost as if the palulukan's acknowledgement of her presence solidified and confirmed her very existence in the world.

_Who are you, _Neytiri enquired.

**Who am I? I have no name,** the palulukan rumbled. **I need no name. I Am.**

* * *

Neytiri felt herself slam back into reality. She took deep, ragged breaths of air, and the scent of gunpowder, of crushed and broken wood, of fear and of blood was strong in her nose. **We have war to attend to, yes? **The question was asked with equal parts sarcasm and glee. Neytiri could only nod, not yet trusting herself to be able to converse much more with the great palulukan.

The palulukan threw his majestic head back and roared, the sound of his voice drowning out all others noises. Now Neytiri felt something else come up though the link, and it surprised her to sense this from the palulukan. Now she felt his joy and satisfaction with living, and once again Neytiri was in awe of the great beast that she now rode, that saw fit to share his existence with her. The palulukan was a truly deep creature indeed, and he felt nothing lightly. Neytiri heard her own voice join with the palulukan as she howled her own cry of war, of victory, of sorrow, and of love.

**Come/**_go_, they thought as one, and the palulukan's powerful muscles uncoiled like a spring, propelling him and his rider forward into the forest.

Neytiri had never moved so fast over the ground before; she had only associated such speed with Seze. Together they leaped and bounded under, over, and around any obstacle that stood in their way. She felt the wind blowing in her face, felt her braided hair flying out behind her in the breeze of her passage. Neytiri's lips turned up in a feral grin.

Her eyes struggled to process all of the sights that assaulted her vision. She could barely follow the impulses of jump over that hole, under that branch, between those split trunks, up and over that fallen tree, _through the branches far above the ground, _now back down to the earth as all six of the palulukan's legs gripped, clawed, and tore their way forward. For Neytiri, it was much more of a mental rush than flying had ever been, or ever would be.

**Stop**/_stop! _The pair slid to halt underneath a tree and both looked up at what was suspended in the branches above the ground. Neytiri's heart ached – it was an ikran and its rider, both shot to death. Cuts and burns covered both of their bodies, and the Na'vi warrior was disfigured enough that she could not tell what tribe he had hailed from.

Neytiri was horrified as she felt hunger bubble up through the link as she observed crimson drops of blood falling to the ground. _No! _She crammed down on the impulse with every fiber of her being. _No, _she repeated in a softer tone but with no less finality in her voice.

Surprisingly, the palulukan sent contrite thoughts up through the bond. **I am not a cannibal, **he said with conviction. **I do not eat the flesh of Self.**

_There is no other palulukan here, _Neytiri thought as she looked around curiously.

**You and I are One, **her mount thought. Neytiri was shocked at the solid loyalty that washed over her mind. This was something else she had not expected from the palulukan, whom she had always perceived to be a savage and vile creature. The beast snorted and shook his head in irritation, turning so he could regard her with his own eyes. **Do not judge what you do not know,** he said.

Neytiri leaned forward and stroked his sensory quills. _I am sorry, _she said, and the beast knew that she meant it. Neytiri looked up at the fallen rider again. His bow was gone, but the quiver strapped to his ikran's back still contained several arrows. "Forgive me, brother," she said as she reached up and retrieved the arrows, which she saw were beautifully crafted. "I will honor your memory by speeding the works of your hands into the hearts of our enemy. Go with Eywa, now."

Neytiri and the palulukan sped on through the forest. Just before they burst through a thick bower of plant life, the palulukan stopped as he scented the air, the frill around his head extending outward as well. _What is there, _Neytiri wondered.

**Enemy, **was the simple reply. Neytiri felt anticipation surge upward. **Shall we…play?**

Neytiri's lips curled back from her teeth in a silent snarl. _Let's._

The huntress crouched low to her mount's back as the palulukan surged through the foliage with an all encompassing roar. In the clearing before was a small squad of four Tawtute soldiers who had apparently become separated from their main group. They turned as one, their faces horrified as they took in the black apparition that appeared out of nowhere and descended upon them like an angel of death. The palulukan landed solidly on one man, crushing his body under his paw. With a disdainful flick of the wrist, the palulukan sent the corpse spinning away into the forest.

Before anyone could raise a gun, the palulukan turned towards the next soldier and opened his maw wide. The man could only emit a startled shriek as the palulukan consumed his body in one bite. There was only a single crunch of the jaws to release the tasty blood before the human was otherwise swallowed in a single gulp. Neytiri shivered with delight from atop the palulukan's back as she felt his pleasure.

With a yipping battle cry of her own, Neytiri rose up and let loose with two arrows at once. Both bolts flew straight and true, striking two more soldiers down before they could process the threat. In the space of three seconds, everyone present was dead, and the Tawtute had not fired a single shot.

Neytiri's mount spun in a circle, still sensing around him. **Not four. Five.**

Squinting her eyes, Neytiri rose up and scanned around her as well as she nocked another arrow into her father's bow. _Where?_

Neytiri felt the world expand around her as the palulukan allowed his senses to fill her. Suddenly she was experiencing the forest in a way that she had never known. She could actually see smells; she could follow their traces through the air back to their source. Everything living around her glowed with a pale blue light as the electrical impulses of life flowed through them, whether it was through the living vessels of the plants around her or through the muscles and tissues of animal life. It did not matter what it was; she saw it all.

A small insect buzzed by her face, the otherwise mundane event transformed into a moment of wonder as she observed its flight, its path through the air illuminated like a tiny blue comet as the insect flapped its small wings dozens of times a second.

**There. **Now Neytiri saw him, one final Tawtute soldier that had been out of sight from the clearing, hidden from view by the thick fronds of the ferns that coated the jungle floor. He was crouched down on his stomach, his gun held up before him. Wisely, he had not fired as he sought to preserve his life by remaining undetected.

The palulukan and Neytiri sniffed as one, and now that she knew what to look for, she could smell the stink of the man's fear rising off of him. Neytiri's ears flicked forward, but she should not make out the sound of his breathing. He was admirably stealthy for a Tawtute, especially so considering the burden of his breathing mask. If Neytiri had been alone, she would have missed him. Still, she knew he was inhaling and exhaling frantically – she could actually witness the electrical discharges of his diaphragm muscles as they twitched violently.

**He is yours, **the palulukan said to her. Neytiri rose up on his back as her lean, powerful arms drawing the string of her bow back; the arrow's fletching just barely tickling the side of her cheek. A whispered prayer to Eywa died on her lips before she ever spoke – she would not wish these men a happy afterlife.

The arrow flew from the bow and plunged into the thicket. Neytiri never saw the actual strike with her eyes, but she and the palulukan witnessed his body convulse in a spasm of dying electrical impulses as the arrow pierced his body, the neurotoxins on the arrowhead frying the small Tawtute's nervous system. He died without a sound.

Suddenly Neytiri and her palulukan flinched as a new, external sensation coursed through her. Her eyes flew wide as she recognized it for what it was. "Jake!" she cried, looking around her as though he might physically be nearby. Something was wrong! Her mate was in danger, and she snarled. Whoever his opponent was would be sorely disappointed if he thought he could dispatch Jake Sully without any interference from her. _We must move quickly!_

The palulukan threw his head back and bayed towards the heavens, the force of the cry causing a nervous flight of riti to take to the sky from the nearby trees. The love of one mate for another transcended species, and the palulukan needed no further explanation from his rider. Battlelust coursed through his veins and the amplifications from Neytiri only caused it go grow stronger and stronger. Without bothering to ask for direction, the black palulukan tore off through the forest, following the song in his rider's heart that drew Neytiri inexorably towards her Jake. **For love, **he snarled.

_For love, _Neytiri replied.


End file.
